


Coming Home

by irishavalon



Series: Come For Me [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Blow Jobs, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post S6, Season/Series 06 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-24
Updated: 2018-07-24
Packaged: 2019-06-15 10:02:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15410511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/irishavalon/pseuds/irishavalon
Summary: "Shiro looks away, out the window at the fleeting night. He is silent for a long time, not looking at Keith. Keith can’t look away from Shiro’s face. He wants to take back the question, but he also wants to know-- needs to know.Does Shiro know I love him?"Keith wakes up from a nightmare. At last, Shiro is there.





	Coming Home

**Author's Note:**

> Part 2 takes place after the paladins return to Earth.

“Keith? Keith!”

Keith awakens with a gasp, pajamas drenched with sweat and hair sticking in all directions when he runs his hands through it. 

“Keith, it’s okay.” Shiro reaches out for him, but when Keith’s eyes lock on him, Keith flinches away like Shiro’s hand will burn him. He skitters away up the bed.

Shiro winces, his hand still raised to comfort, but he doesn’t come any closer.

Keith’s thoughts are whirling, full of light and pain and rows and rows of clones, of corpses, still locked in a nightmare world he’s only just left for real. He knows he’s breathing too fast, but he can’t stop. He grasps the sheets beneath him so tightly his knuckles are white. Through the roar of the blood in his ears, he hears Shiro speaking to him, sitting at the edge of the bed.

“It’s okay. It’s just me. It was just a nightmare.”

“Shiro?” Keith says, his voice raspy and raw. He thinks he might have been screaming in his sleep. The dream slowly dissipates, replaced by the dim light of the room and the feel of soft bedding underneath his hands. He loosens his grip on the sheets. He looks up at the man sitting at the foot of the bed, brow furrowed in concern. And it’s just Shiro, no purple spark in his eyes, no murderous intent on his face. His hair glows white in the semi-darkness of Keith’s bedroom on Earth.

They’re home. Shiro is alive. Keith is safe.

“I’m here,” Shiro whispers, tentatively reaching out again. He doesn’t touch Keith, merely waits for the other man to decide what to do. Keith lets out a sob and crawls toward him. “I’m me.” Keith wraps his arms around Shiro’s waist and buries his face in Shiro’s chest. “It’s okay. You’re safe.” Shiro brings his arm up to wrap tightly around Keith’s shoulders, presses his face against Keith’s head. Keith cries; Shiro murmurs into his hair.

When Keith finally pulls his head away from Shiro’s body, face tight from tears but no longer crying, the sky is starting to brighten outside the window. Keith looks up at Shiro, suddenly feeling sheepish. But Shiro just smiles fondly down at him and moves his hand to cradle Keith’s cheek. Keith shuts his eyes briefly at the touch. 

“Are you all right?” Shiro whispers. Keith gives him a small nod in reply. 

“I don’t think I’m going to fall asleep again, though,” Keith admits. 

Shiro nods in understanding. “What do you want to do?” he asks.

“Stay here?” Keith suggests quietly. Shiro smiles and moves his hand again to pull Keith closer to him. Keith’s heart stutters; Shiro has not shown this type of affection for him before. Even in the Black Lion’s consciousness, Keith had initiated the touch. When they brought him back, Shiro had gone home in the Black Lion with Keith and Krolia. When they got back, Shiro made the rounds at the Garrison, but had ultimately returned to the farmhouse with the Koganes. It had only been a few days since they brought Shiro back to life, but Keith had trouble letting the other paladin out of his sight for even a moment. It had embarrassed him until he started noticing that Shiro seemed to be staying closer than usual to him, as well. They hadn’t talked about it yet, though.

Keith watches Shiro, his jaw working to speak but not quite landing on the words he wants to say. Shiro watches him back for a moment, before laughing softly and saying, “What is it, Keith? What are you trying to say?”

“How much of the fight did you see?” he blurts. It’s not exactly the question he wants to ask, but he can’t ask that one. Not yet.

Shiro’s eyes darken for a moment. “The fight between you and my-- and the clone?” he clarifies. Keith nods. Shiro looks away, out the window at the fleeting night. He is silent for a long time, not looking at Keith. Keith can’t look away from Shiro’s face. He wants to take back the question, but he also wants to know--  _ needs _ to know.

_ Does Shiro know I love him? _

Shiro knows Keith looks up to him, has always held him on this unreachable pedestal of perfection. Shiro was kind where Keith was blunt, level-headed and calm where Keith could be brash and reckless, a mature leader to Keith’s maverick streak. Shiro knows Keith turns to him for guidance, for someone to get him out of trouble. But after Shiro came back the first time, after the attack on Kerberos, and everything that followed, something has changed. Keith still respects Shiro’s leadership; he still trusts the older man with his life. But he’s started to see himself more as Shiro’s equal, and he thinks Shiro might see the same.

He might’ve once thought of Shiro as a mentor, as a brother, but now…

He thinks about the joy in his chest when that ship crash landed on Earth two years ago, about working with Shiro as paladins and taking his place when Shiro was taken again, about the punch in his gut when he learned Shiro died. He thinks about the hope fluttering in his heart as Allura placed her glowing hands on Shiro’s temples, the relief that coursed through him when Shiro-- _ his _ Shiro--finally awoke. He remembers Shiro leaning his head weakly against his chest. 

At last, Shiro answers. “I only saw flashes. It was like the Lion was letting me see the important parts, the moments that I needed to see.”

“And did you--?”

“Yes.” Shiro’s answer is very quiet, but stressed. The look he fixes Keith with when he looks away from the window tells Keith the other man knows what he was trying to ask. 

_ Yes. _

Keith doesn’t know how to ask him. He almost doesn’t want to ask him. After all, that would mean admitting why he forced his way into the spirit world the third time. The very thought of that sends a blush crawling up his face. 

And then Shiro smiles. He reaches his hand up to rub his thumb against Keith’s cheek, where the blush is deepest.  _ Oh, fuck _ , Keith thinks. Because he  _ knows _ . He knows that Shiro knows. And he knows that Shiro knows that he--  _ well, shit. _

Shiro laughs. It’s a quiet laugh, and the look in his eyes is fond, not mocking. “You look like you’re about to faint,” he says. 

“I’m sorry.”

“Why are you sorry?”

Keith has to think about that for a moment. He swallows and replies, “I guess I’m mostly just embarrassed. And this isn’t how I wanted you to find out.”

“Would it make you feel better if I said I already knew before you… found a creative way to get into the Black Lion’s consciousness? You  _ did _ tell my evil clone you loved me.”

Keith feels himself flush a deeper shade of red and he buries his face in his hands. “Shit. Black knows about this, too, doesn’t she?” he says, but his mind is echoing with Shiro’s voice saying  _ love _ . And really, he did it in the Black Lion, after all, so he should have known that she would see. 

Shiro laughs louder this time. “Yes, and she’s judging you for it.” Keith groans and drops his head against Shiro’s chest. Shiro brings his hand up to run his fingers through Keith’s hair. Keith’s heart stops when he feels Shiro press his lips to the top of his head. “She’ll get over it eventually,” he promises.

“Will  _ you _ ?” Keith asks.

Shiro pauses for a moment. “Do I have to?” He squeezes his fingers underneath Keith’s chin and gently pulls his head up so he can see the other’s face. “I like knowing you think about me.”

“ _ Fuck _ , Shiro,” Keith whispers breathlessly.

Shiro smiles wide. His fingers find Keith’s hair again. “You know I love you, too, right?” And then he’s kissing Keith like it’ll bring him back to life again. 

Keith is frozen in shock for all of two seconds, and then he’s kissing back hard, reaching out and wrapping his arms around Shiro’s neck and threading calloused fingers into soft, white hair. Keith’s hands scrabble along Shiro’s shirt, trying to grasp it. Shiro is more successful, pulling Keith’s gray cotton T-shirt over his head and tossing it to the side. He breaks the kiss for only a moment to do so, but the second is too long for Keith, who makes up for it by plunging his tongue into Shiro’s mouth the instant their lips meet again. Shiro welcomes the change, his own tongue trying to get into Keith’s mouth. 

At last, Shiro helps Keith get his own shirt off and then moves on to pressing soft bites and roving kisses down Keith’s neck, his fingertips tucked into the waistband of Keith’s pants. It is so much different and so much better than Keith imagined it. 

“ _ Shiro,”  _ Keith gasps, moaning and and turning his head towards the side Shiro is kissing. His clumsy fingers wander down Shiro’s neck and across his broad, bare shoulders.

Shiro comes up briefly for air, whispering, “Can I?” He tugs gently on Keith’s waistband for clarification.

“ _ Jesus,  _ yes.  _ Please. _ ”

Keith feels Shiro’s smile against his shoulder, and then Shiro pulls the pants down, Keith lifting his ass off the bed so Shiro can get them off. Shiro’s hand goes immediately to Keith’s hardening cock, and Keith moans with pleasure. Keith reaches a shaking hand up to clasp Shiro’s chin and tug him up into a desperate kiss. Shiro rubs a thumb down the length and Keith has to break the kiss to arch back. His hips feel like they have a mind of their own as they push towards Shiro. Shiro strokes the tip and Keith drops his head against Shiro’s neck, panting and pressing close to kiss the already pink skin there. 

“Shiro, please.”

Shiro pulls away and wraps his arms around Keith. He gently tugs Keith up the bed and lays him down on his back. Keith stares up at him, reaches up to cup the back of his neck. Keith’s cock is aching with need, but Keith’s mouth needs this for just a moment. His heart needs it. He pulls Shiro down and presses his lips to Shiro’s. 

When they pull away and Shiro begins to move down Keith’s body back to his cock, Keith whispers, “I love you.”

Shiro smiles up at him as he settles himself between Keith’s legs. He presses a kiss to the inside of Keith’s thigh, mere inches from where Keith needs it. “I love you, too,” he says back. He kisses the inside of Keith’s other thigh. “I love you,” he repeats. Then finally, finally, he leans down and takes just the tip of Keith’s cock into his mouth. Keith gasps at the feeling of Shiro’s tongue tracing circles around his tip. Shiro glances up at him, and Keith smiles to encourage him to continue. Shiro takes him further into his mouth, his hand coming up to Keith’s hips just in time to prevent Keith from bucking too far. And then he sucks, and Keith tries to arch his back again, gasping. Shiro licks the tip of his cock again, eyes fluttering closed as he tastes. Keith peeks down at him and watches Shiro’s face, intent and deliberate, like he is with everything. His mouth is full of Keith, and his long, dark eyelashes flutter against face, as if this is just as glorious for him as it is for Keith.

Keith reaches down for something to do, his heart feeling like it will explode from the tension and passion within it. One hand still clings to the sheets while the other buries in Shiro’s hair. Shiro moans around Keith’s cock at the touch, and Keith twitches at the sound and vibration from Shiro’s throat. 

“Shiro,” Keith says, barely speaking above a whisper. Shiro sucks again, rubbing his thumb along the soft skin of Keith’s thigh. He pulls back and pushes forward again, licking up the length. “Shiro,” Keith gasps, a little louder. Shiro’s sucking becomes more insistent, his tongue still deliberate, but moving more quickly. “Shiro!” Keith cries again, and it feels like the first time he was blown into the spirit world, screaming desperately for his best friend, his guiding light. It feels like the last time, his hand curled around his length, twisting one final time as the cockpit of the Black Lion dissolved around him in a cry of release.

Keith’s world goes white, his eyes squeezed shut against the bursts of pleasure within him as he comes. He feels weightless, floating on the remaining passion. He does not dissolve into the metaphysical plane this time, however. His mind, blank after his release, drifts slowly back down to the bed as his whole body relaxes. He opens his eyes, blinking away dark pinpricks in his vision, and realizes his hand has fallen from Shiro’s hair onto the bed. He returns it to Shiro as the other paladin swallows and sits up a little. Shiro looks at him, wiping away a drop of come that has leaked from his mouth. 

Shiro gives him a smile, and Keith returns it, feeling a little dazed. “Come here,” he says softly, his words blending together a bit. He’s tired again, but he doesn’t feel like going to sleep. He lets go of the sheets and reaches for Shiro with the hand not currently roving through the older man’s hair. Shiro pulls himself up and settles beside Keith with a contented sigh. He reaches an arm around Keith’s waist to pull him closer and Keith settles, his shoulder against Shiro’s chest so he can still see him as they lie together. His hand returns to Shiro’s hair.

“If I didn’t know any better,” Shiro’s says, his smile turning lopsided, “I would say you have a kink for white hair.”

“Not for white hair,” Keith corrects, leaning up to kiss Shiro’s hairline for a moment before falling back against the bed again. “ _ Your _ hair.” Shiro’s soft laugh ruffles Keith’s already tousled hair. He leans down, pressing his face into that same hair. The arm around Keith’s waist reaches up to cross his chest, Shiro’s hand holding his opposite shoulder. Keith reaches the hand not touching Shiro’s hair up to hold Shiro’s arm. He closes his eyes and sighs again.

“Are you going to sleep?” Shiro asks softly.

“No,” Keith replies.

“It looks like you are.”

Keith can’t help smiling. “I’m not tired.”

“Liar,” Shiro says, but the adoration in his voice counteracts the accusation.

“I’m just closing my eyes. Once the sun comes up a little more, I won’t be able to sleep anyway.”

“Yes, you always were an early riser.” Shiro says into Keith’s hair.

“Pot, kettle,” Keith huffs back. He feels Shiro smile, and then lips pressed into his scalp. 

They are silent for a long time, lying on the bed and holding each other, tired but not asleep, awake but not moving. 

It’s been a few days since they arrived on Earth, since blowing up the castle. But it’s still strange, not to feel the incessant motors of the ship beneath them or the blaring of a distress siren. It’s odd, knowing that Lance is not sleeping down the hall, that Pidge isn’t up late in the common room tinkering with something, that Allura is not in the control room. It’s been barely three days, and they’ll likely be regrouping soon, but Keith feels their absence like it’s a physical thing. 

“Do you miss them?” Shiro murmurs at last. Keith is surprised at how accurately Shiro picked up on his train of thought, but then Shiro has always been able to know how he’s feeling or what he’s thinking. 

“Yes.” Keith says. He misses Allura’s calm presence, Hunk’s cooking, Pidge’s one-track mind. He misses Coran’s silliness and even Lance’s barbs, which somewhere during their time together haven’t become quite so irritating. He missed them in the two years he spent traveling through warped space, in his stints working with the Blade of Marmora. He misses them again, now that they have all returned to Earth to reunite with their families. 

“Me, too.” Shiro answers. “What do you think--?”

He’s cut off by the sound of one of their communicators going off. Judging by the dim glow on the desk, it’s Keith’s. 

“Shit!” Keith says, leaping up immediately and scrambling for his pants. He finds them in a heap on the ground beside his bed and tugs them on. Shiro stands more calmly, retrieving his shirt and walking over to the Altean tech, which is still ringing. 

“Do you want them to know about this?” Shiro asks over his shoulder.

Keith shrugs. “We have to tell them eventually, right?”

Shiro nods. “Eventually.” he echoes. “Now?”

Keith thinks for a moment. “How surprised do you actually think they’ll be?” he asks, smiling. 

Shiro picks up the insistent communicator and returns his smile, turning around all the way to face the other man. “Most of them probably won’t be surprised. Except--”

“Lance.” They say at the same time, their grins widening. 

In his mind’s eye, Keith sees Lance, yelping in shock when he was told the castle was a spaceship. “It wouldn’t be the first time he was blindsided by something obvious,” Keith says.

Shiro laughs. “Or the last.” he agrees. “So, are we doing this?”

Keith nods, and they return without speaking to the bed. They find their positions almost instinctively, Shiro leaning against the headboard, with Keith lounging between his legs, head against Shiro’s chest. Shiro hands Keith the communicator so the camera will show both of them, and Keith accepts the call.

It’s only after the call opens up that Keith realizes he forgot to put his shirt on, the little square in the corner of the screen reflecting he and Shiro back at them. They look comfortable to Keith, like this is how they should always sit. It makes him smile a little bit.

The others come into view, Lance, Allura, and Coran lounging on a sofa, Pidge at what looks to be their dining room table, and Hunk at his bedroom desk. Pidge starts to speak first, but Lance interrupts them by squawking at a deafening pitch and jostling the Alteans as he sits up straight. Keith watches Shiro’s image on the screen drop his face into Keith’s hair and he feels the man behind him shake with silent laughter. Keith grins wider. 

“Oh, for Quiznak’s sake, Lance,” Allura says over Pidge’s giggles. “Did you really not see this coming?”

Hunk gives them a thumbs up and Coran merely smiles at them. 

“When did this happen?!” Lance practically shouts, leaning his face close to the screen as if to see them better. 

Keith glances up at Shiro. The tiny smile on Shiro’s face draws one from Keith as well.

Oh, God. They’re going to be one of those  _ cute couples _ .

“Umm,” Keith starts, glancing back at the screen. “A couple hours ago?”

Lance squawks again, sending Pidge back into fits of laughter, doubled over with their head on the table in front of them. Hunk grins and flashes them  _ two _ thumbs up now. 

Shiro leans down so he can whisper in Keith’s ear. Keith can hear his smile. “I think we broke Lance.”

“He wasn’t broken before?” Keith asks.

“I heard that!” Lance yells. 

“Well, we’re happy for you,” Allura says with a smile, grabbing Lance by the back of his shirt and yanking him back and away from the screen.

“Yeah,” Pidge says, lifting their head up. Tears of laughter are still falling from their eyes. “Took you long enough, though.”

Hunk nods in agreement; Keith rolls his eyes. Unseen by their friends, Shiro’s arm tightens around Keith’s abdomen. 

“What was the catalyst?” Hunk asks, and the twin mischievous looks on his and Pidge’s faces tell Keith that he’s looking for the instigation of their relationship.

Keith thinks about sitting in the front of the Black Lion, blood rushing, heart pounding, shouting Shiro’s name into the starry consciousness of the Lion. His face on the screen blushes as he feels the heat rising to his face. No way in Hell is Hunk  _ ever _ going to hear that story. (Though he  _ might _ tell Lance a bit of it if the blue paladin annoys him too much.)

Keith makes his voice as steady as he can and deadpans, “Wouldn’t you like to know.” 

 


End file.
